Preaching In Pumps | Sermons By Rev. Sarah E. Weaver

Hi everyone!  I hope those of you who are getting hit with this storm in the northeast are safe, dry and warm!  We did gather for worship at RCC this morning - it was a small crowd, but where two or more are gathered, right? Here is my sermon!  Enjoy ...  - Rev. Sarah

Hi friends!  I know it's been awhile.  We closed on our house at the beginning of the summer and then my computer crashed and then I just couldn't pull it together to get my sermons uploaded.  But I'm back and ready to try again!  I really love connecting with everyone, so thank you for being patient with me! Now onto Sunday's sermon ...  Back in mid-July we embarked on a year-long sermon series called The Year Of Mark.  Inspired by my dear friend Jon Chapman, we literally started at the beginning of the Gospel of Mark and just steadily began to preach through it.  It's been amazing!  I do have all of my Year Of Mark sermons (and I will at least post the text, if not the audio eventually!) and it will be fun to have that collection one day.  But for the time begin, we're picking up in the middle of it and talking about God's signs.  Enjoy!

The totally ironic thing about this sermon is that I posted a bunch of pictures on Facebook today from communion this week - we served it by intinction because we forgot to order those little cups last month - and there is currently a conversation happening about whether or not people are comfortable with intinction! I thought that was neat timing - it's easier said than done to be comfortably uncomfortable! In the intro to this sermon, you'll hear Harrison saying "hi" in my intro ;) - I shouldn't record these intros right before he needs to go to bed! I am taking the next two weeks off from preaching.  Children's Day is this weekend so I'm not preaching and then the next week I'm on vacation.  I'll probably be on instagram cleaning and painting my new house so look for me over there (@revsarahweaver). Enjoy! -Sarah

I'm behind in posting my sermons!  I know, I know.  Here is my sermon from Memorial Day Weekend.  I was totally bummed - we were supposed to worship outdoors (RCC tradition) and they were calling for rain to start at 10AM so we moved it inside. But then IT DIDN'T RAIN. Oh well. Next year. Here's my sermon - I preached on John 3:16 - well, I suppose I preached on John 3:17 - ha!  You'll se what I mean.  Enjoy! -Sarah 

Hi friends!  It is my tradition on Confirmation Sunday to write a letter to the Confirmation Class for my sermon. This year's class was amazing and I was so humbled by the authenticity of the statements of faith they turned in. I hope everyone had a wonderful Pentecost!  It is crazy to me to think that last year I didn't get to preach Pentecost because it was late (first Sunday in June) and I was in the hospital with a new baby!  The year went fast ...  Have a safe holiday weekend! Sarah

Do you ever have one of those moments where you outline one sermon and end up writing a completely different one?  I had one of those moments last week.  The sermon I ended up preaching has nothing to do with what I outline - and, truth be told, I'm not really sure how I ended up where I did.  But I was happy with the way God told the story on Sunday.  It was a message a lot of us - including me! - needed to hear. Have a great week, everyone! -Sarah

Sermon #2 of the hat trick of sermons posted today.  This one is a little bit shorter - we had communion and a baptism and I didn't want to keep people in the pews until noon!  I preached on John 15:9-17 and the command to love one another as Christ loves us.  I talked about how the word "love" is translated from the Greek and how that helps us understand what Jesus was talking about.  Enjoy! -Sarah

I am very behind in posting sermons!  I've got three that are going to go up today.  This one is from three weeks ago.  Enjoy! -Sarah

Psalm 23 is never an easy one to preach on - everyone knows it so well!  Every time it comes up in the lectionary I try to come up with something new and revolutionary to say about it, but every time I think I realize I just need to let it speak for itself.  So that's what I did!  I reflect on it briefly, but at the end just center us all back and read the Psalm to close my sermon. Hope you all are having a great week! xo -Sarah

Hi friends and happy Marathon Monday!  I cannot believe this weather - every single runner earned their race medal ten times over today. Here is my sermon from yesterday.  I preached on the Gospel passage from Luke where Jesus appears to the disciples, shows them the wounds on his hands and feet and then shared a meal with them.  I pulled six lessons out of this passage that are still very much relevant to the world we are living in today.  I think every now and then it's nice to hear something super practical and easy to understand. Enjoy! -Sarah

Hi Friends! I've got two sermons to post today, one from yesterday and one from last week.  Last week I preached from Acts of the Apostles and I talked about doing church - church as a verb, not as a noun.  During my children's sermon I had everyone do the wave.  At one point I yelled, "freeze!" and we looked at how everyone was doing something different.  And even though they were all doing something different, together they were all doing the wave.  I explained that's the way church works - we all do something different, but together we're all doing church. Enjoy! -Sarah

Hi friends!  Happy Easter!  I hope you all have a wonderful and joyous resurrection celebration.  We were busy and blessed at the church.  There was a lot going on, but I felt like we had something for everyone on different walks of life. Here is my sermon - short and sweet!  This story speaks for itself.

Hi Friends! This was one of those sermons where I had outlined something completely different, but when I sat down to write it, I just went in a completely different direction - but then everyone walked out of church and said to me, "You have no idea how badly I needed to hear that sermon today!" Such a God thing. Anyway, here is my sermon from yesterday.  I am wishing you many many blessings on your Holy Week!  We have worship service on Thursday evening and a potluck and round table discussion on Friday evening.  Our Easter Egg Hunt is on Saturday morning and then on Easter Sunday we have two services - a sunrise service at 6AM at the Anawan Club (13 Gorham Street, Rehoboth) and our intergenerational service at 10AM at RCC.  If you are in the area, please join us!  We would love to experience the resurrection with you. Blessings, friends ...

Hi friends!  I'm a week behind in posting my sermons, so I am going to post last week's and this week's today.  Blessings into your Holy Week!  If you live near Rehoboth, please join us for some of our services. We would love to see you and experience the resurrection together.

Hi Friends! Ignore the fact that I kind of sound like a baritone in the audio this week.  I'm pretty sure one of us has been sick at some point throughout the entire month of February.  I'm SO ready for spring! I decided to preach through the Epistle selections in the lectionary throughout the Lenten season this year.  Obviously, I preached the Gospel last week (Lent 1 = Jesus in the wilderness), but I am going to try to stay in the letters from here on out.  I preached out of Romans this week, which was paired with the Abraham narrative in Genesis, because Paul talks about having a faith like Abraham's.  We sang and danced to Father Abraham during the children's sermon and then I talked about looking at the entire Abraham narrative when we think about having faith like his. Enjoy! -Sarah

I'll be honest, I'm having a hard time sharing this one.  As a preacher, I feel so vulnerable the week following a shooting.  I don't think there is a "right" thing to say.  I try to tread carefully and that may or may not be the right thing to do, either.  I don't want to stir up a debate, but I also don't want anyone to think that I'm afraid to speak hard truths, either.  I want to pray for the victims of this shooting, but I also know that, like so many others have said, thoughts and prayers are just not enough anymore. Ugh.  It's so hard.  I spoke a truth that I think my people needed to hear and could take with them and apply to their lives.  Hopefully that was enough.  I pray that God will continue to work out the details and I will be obedient in my preaching.  Because it's not easy! So here is my sermon.  Lent 1, Jesus in the wilderness, the weekend after a shooting in our country. - Rev. Sarah

And now in the category of "better late than never," here is my sermon from LAST Sunday, Transfiguration Sunday.  We had a Mardi Gras Sunday at the church that day (check out the pictures on our Facebook page!) and I talked in my sermon about the Transfiguration reminds us that our lives truly can be transformed by our faith.  I hope yours is, as well! - Rev. Sarah

Hi Friends! Not the Super Bowl outcome any of my church members were hoping for last night, but we are moving on and getting ready for Mardi Gras Sunday!  We've never done this before (at least not to the degree we are this year), so follow me on Instagram (@revsarahweaver) to see some behind the scenes this week! I continued to preach through the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark this week.  I am having so much fun following this chronologically!  Part of me would love to go off lectionary sometime and preach through a Gospel in a more intentional way.  I love that the lectionary brings us through different parts of the bible, but this has also been a lot of fun. There is a LOT going on in this morning's passage.  My sermon could have gone in so many different directions.  I ended up focusing on Jesus retreating to a deserted place to pray.  I used the acronym, SIP - sabbath, intentional prayer - as an illustration.  So take a sip! Enjoy ... Rev. Sarah

Hi Friends! This text challenges me every time it pops up in the lectionary.  We don't talk about casting out evil spirits very often up here in New England, so I usually end up kind of preaching around it.  But for some reason, I decided to just tackle it head on this week.  And by the end of my sermon, I had the entire church chant with me, "Not Today, Satan!" I'd call that a success. Hard to believe next weekend is the first Sunday in February.  We've got another Super Bowl challenge going on at the church - go Pats! - Rev. Sarah

Hi Friends! I recorded the intro to my podcast last night and edited it and then never uploaded it and there is a part of me that wants to re-record the intro (because I say, "It's Monday, January 22nd" and now it's Tuesday), but there is a bigger part of me that is just going to go with it because imperfection is a sign of grace, bible study starts in 30 minutes and I love Harrison squealing at the end of the intro I recorded last night. So I'm going to go with it! Here is my sermon from Sunday.  I preached on the call of the disciples, quoted the village people and shared some of my struggles as of late.  Enjoy! -Sarah